New Life
by alexisg8403
Summary: Desi Piscatella has a hard enough job as it is, but what happens when he crosses paths with the new inmate at Litchfield? Meanwhile, Lexy Grant just wants to get out of prison as soon as possible, but it's going to be pretty hard if she keeps running into the Captain of the Guards. Piscatella x OC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: No characters are mine except for the OC**

Lexy Grant couldn't believe she was actually in federal prison. She's always been a stick to the rules person. It was a complete accident. She had taken the wrong suitcase at the airport, and the one she had accidentally took happened to be filled with an excess of drugs. When airport security checked her luggage she had been horrified when they accused her of smuggling drugs across the country. No matter how much she explained that it wasn't her bag, they weren't having it. Unfortunately, the court wouldn't believe her either, and now she is stuck with a four year sentence in a minimum security federal prison.

Lexy could barely hear her own thoughts over the continuous noise. She was a bundle of nerves and feeling extremely anxious. She walked around searching for a CO to guide her to her new bunk. From the flurry of activity around her, Lexy heard many of the other inmates talking about an inmate transfer. Apparently, the day before almost all of the inmates got out of the prison through a hole and the fence and guards came from the maximum security prison to herd them back. At the same time as this, a large amount of inmates had been transferred to the prison, and nearly all of the former guards had a walk-out.

While she was walking, Lexy seen a large man barking orders to the other COs and inmates alike. ' _I bet he's going to be fun to deal with_.' Lexy approached him and waited until he had almost scattered the hallway of inmates before speaking.

"Excuse me sir?" Lexy timidly asked.

The large man turned so fast Lexy was startled.

"What is it inmate?" He barked.

"Uh-well I was just got here today and I don't know where my bunk is... or anything really." Lexy read the name sewed onto his uniform; **D. Piscatella**

"What's your name, inmate?" Piscatella barked once more.

"Lexy Grant, sir." She couldn't understand why he was still yelling when there was practically nobody around to hear it, besides her.

"Follow me, inmate." Piscatella said gruffly.

Lexy took the time while trying to keep up with his huge strides to observe him. The man was at least 6'4" and muscular. He had a well-kept beard and brown hair. She would think he's a football player if she didn't know he was a CO.

After about a minute of keeping up with his fast pace, they arrived at a small office. There was almost nothing in it but a desk, computer, two chairs, and some file cabinets. She took a guess that this was Piscatella's office because he was new here.

"Take a seat, inmate" Piscatella spoke quieter this time.

Lexy sat down in the chair in front of his desk while he sorted through a large stack of papers.

After a minute, he pulled out a paper and called her to attention.

"Grant, you're in A-Block."

"Where is that, sir?"

Piscatella sighed. "Come on, inmate."

Once more, Lexy had to quicken her pace to keep up with the mountain of a man. While walking, she couldn't help but notice how all inmates would immediately avert their gazes and walk closer to the wall as Piscatella neared them. '  
 _Wow, this guy must be pretty hot-tempered if they're already scared of him after one day. Or maybe it's the fact that he's a whole foot taller than most of the people here.'_ Piscatella stopped in front of a door. "This is A-Block, it's where your bunk is." He opened the door and they walked in. He kept on walking passed the bunks until he got to one that had appeared to have a sleeping older woman with fiery red hair.

"Inmate Reznikov!" Piscatella boomed.

The older woman flinched awake and looked at Piscatella and I both with distaste. "Is sleeping now against the rules too?" She asked with heavy sarcasm.

"Meet your new roommate, she'll be in the bunk above yours."

With those words Piscatella left the block.

"I don't care who you are, but if you snore I'll kill you." The woman looked deadly serious.

"I don't snore."

"Good, I'm Red, the ladies in the next bunk are Chapman and Hapakuka."

Red laid back down and went to sleep, much to the astonishment of Lexy, who didn't think she'd ever be able to sleep in such a place.

Not knowing what to do, Lexy went to ask someone about job assignments. She walked around the room seeing if she could find anyone that looked remotely friendly. Only a few people happened to be in the block, and they definitely didn't look like the talking type. Lexy remembered being told about the counselor, , but she had also been warned that most of the time he wasn't very helpful. She ultimately decided to just walk around the hallways and see how things worked around the prison, and maybe ask someone about job assignments.

Out in the hallway Lexy tried her best not to bump into anybody or make too much eye contact. She walked as close to the wall as possible and observed the pattern inmates seemed to have.

While she was looking around, Lexy didn't see CO Piscatella coming around the corner until she collided with him.

 **End of chapter**

 **Note: This story takes place the day after all the new inmates were transferred to Litchfield. I plan on making the story a Piscatella x OC, though it may not look like it now. I want to flesh out the characters a little bit and create friendships. Also, in the story Piscatella is bisexual. Sorry if this bothers some people because in the show he was gay. This story will depart from canon in some ways, mostly in the Piscatella area, and like how the one person that was in Red's bunk isn't there (she was there for the first night and snored the whole time so Red got her kicked out). Please tell me if there are grammar errors and let me know what you guys think! This is my first story so feedback is greatly appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Note: I just realized that I never described what Lexy actually looks like. She's 5'6" long brown wavy hair, hazel eyes, 140 lbs, kind of has puppy dog eyes.**

* * *

"Inmate!"

Lexy stumbled back a few feet. "I'm so sorry sir! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"This is prison, inmate, you better start paying attention or you're going to get in a lot of trouble!"

 _'Why must he always yell' "_ Yes sir, of course." Lexy turned around and walked the other way.

* * *

Piscatella POV

I was already irritated enough without that new inmate running into me. It's barely afternoon and I've had to deal with fighting prisoners, incompetent officers like Luschek, and on top of that Judy King showed up yesterday too. I'll never understand how they managed to cram another inmate into this prison after the train wreck that happened yesterday. It's only my second day here and I can tell that it definitely won't be a walk in the park.

For the third time today I hear raucous screaming coming from the end of the hall. I felt my anger reach its peak.

"Inmates! That's enough!" I commanded loudly over the screaming.

Most of the crowd had the good sense to back away before they got into trouble. The ones that didn't share that same common sense got an earful of air horn.

It worked. The fighting stopped and all the inmates involved were now covering their ears and yelling at me. "That's a shot for all of you inmates here! Now go back to your bunks or you'll be heading down to the SHU!" I watched as everyone immediately dispersed from the area. This wouldn't be happening if this prison had order before I was here. I relaxed for a moment before feeling my anger rise again at someone interrupting my train of thought.

"Sir?"

I turned, ready to give an inmate a verbal lashing, however stopped when I saw it was just CO McCullough.

"Yes, McCullough?"

"Caputo wants you to go to his office."

"Ok, keep it calm down here, alright McCullough?"

"Sure thing sir."

I wondered what Caputo requested me in his office for. There were tons of things he could talk to me about because of all the problems that had sprung up in such a short period of time. The guard walk out, a hundred new inmates, fights, Judy King, and god knows what else is happening without my knowledge.

I reached the Wardens office. I only had just put my hand up to knock when I was welcomed in.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Caputo?" I inquired.

"Yes. Just for the record I think you're doing a wonderful job so far keeping things under control. There's just one thing MCC wants us to monitor very closely."

"What is that, sir?"

"The whole Judy King situation," Caputo looked anxious, "I need you to get a guard to follow her around and make sure no one gives her any trouble. Judy King has a lot of money and fame. As you know both of these things add up to very good lawyers, and if she sues MCC for anything that threatened her during her stay we'll be in a lot of hot water, Captain." Caputo nodded gravely to accentuate his words.

"Got it, Warden. I promise you nothing bad will happen to Judy King during her stay and I will have a guard following her all hours of the day."

"Thanks Piscatella, you're free to go now." Caputo dismissed him.

I walked down the hall thinking about who to assign to watch Judy King. I remembered that one really young guard, CO Bayley, I think his name was. I'll send him to Judy King because I figure he'll be the most endearing to her.

I went outside to look for Bayley and keep an eye on the prisoners. I found him near the track. He waved to me as I walked up to him. "Hey Captain!" Bayley said cheerfully.

"Bayley, I have a task for you."

"Whatever it is you can count on me, Captain!"

Bayley looked optimistic and I felt confident he could keep an eye on Judy King. "Excellent, I need you to watch Judy King and ensure no trouble goes her way. Alright?"

I looked at him seriously.

"You got it Captain! I will watch Judy King like a hawk all day long."

I decided to stay outside longer just to make sure inmates were properly behaving themselves. As I scanned around the yard I could see the new inmate, Grant, looking like a lost puppy alone in the woods. I know that if I could see how vulnerable she is, everyone else could too, and that might lead to fighting. I moved a bit closer to the inmate in case some of the tough ones started causing problems. I groaned inwardly as I saw two inmates with bald heads and many tattoos strut up to her. As I watched, inmate Grant became more and more nervous with each passing second and the other two walked closer to her intimidatingly. That's when I intervened to diffuse the situation.

"Prisoners! What is going on here?" I bellowed to them from ten yards away.

"U-uh-nothing Mr. Piscatella! Really!" One of them stuttered.

"Oh really? Because it sure didn't look like that from where I was."

"We were jus-" "Can-it inmate! Do you think I'm a fool? Anyone could see what you were doing from a mile away. Get back to your bunks now, and you're both getting two shots each."

I looked back to the new inmate. She had relief in her eyes and I knew that this one wouldn't be causing any problems for me now. "Thanks so much Mr. Piscatella!" Grant said with gratitude. " I didn't do it for you inmate. I did it to prevent a fight from breaking out. And here's a word of advice; don't walk around looking like a lost child. It will save you a lot of problems."

"Still, thanks for stopping them before they did anything." She walked back to the building.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **Note: Do you guys have any suggestions for improving my writing, or should I change my writing style a bit? Writing from Piscatella's point of view was challenging, so let me know if I made him seem like he was in the show or if he's out of character. Next chapter I'll write from Lexy's point of view and I think I'll add a bunch more characters that are from the show.**


	3. Chapter 3

Author Note: Some swearing in this chapter.

* * *

Lexy POV

As I walked back to the building I thought about how lucky I was that Piscatella was nearby. I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't seen them harassing me. I see why inmates are afraid of him. He seems to be everywhere at once; this was the third time I encountered him in four hours.

When I got back into the prison I saw everyone walking in the same direction and figured it must be time for dinner. I tagged along with the large group of people to the cafeteria and stood in the line. Once I was up I looked at today's dinner and was shocked to see that it didn't even look like actual food. I turned to the inmate next to me, a tall woman with long black hair and secretary glasses, "Hey, do you know what that stuff is?" She looked at me. "Slop." ' _Oh well, can't really say I'm surprised. After all, nearly the whole staff walked out just yesterday, and I don't blame them.'_

I took my tray and scanned the cafeteria looking for a place to eat. Tables appeared to be sorted by race. "Is it your first day in prison or something?" I turned around and saw the person I spoke to in the lunch line. "Yea, I've never been in prison before." The woman's eyes softened and she took on a friendlier demeanor. "Tough break. I'm Alex. You can sit at my table if you have nowhere else to eat." "Sure, thanks Alex. By the way, my name's Lexy Grant."

I followed behind Alex as she led me to her table.

She stopped and motioned for me to sit down. I sat down next to an older woman. I glanced around the table to see if anyone I recognized was there. "Guys, this is Lexy Grant. She's new here and doesn't have anywhere else to sit." Alex introduced me.

"Hi there! Come on, sit down, sit down. You're gonna fit right in with us." An older lady with blue eyeshadow greeted me enthusiastically. "Let me introduce myself and the other gals that usually sit at this table. I'm DeMarco, she's Chapman," the eccentric old lady pointed at a woman sitting next to Alex with dirty blond hair who looked like she was in her thirties. Chapman waved at me. "Lorna Morello," this time she pointed at a younger woman with curly brown hair and bright red lipstick. "Hi Lexy, you can call me Morello." Her smile grew even larger if that was possible. " I just got married a few days ago, right here in this prison! The world is a wonderful place..." She trailed off and looked lost in her thoughts with a smile stuck on her face. "Big Boo," I could've guessed who Big Boo was just from the name. A middle-aged, overweight woman with short, black hair didn't even look up from her conversation with somebody else at the table. "...And next to her is Nicky Nichols." Nicky Nichols had frizzy, wavy, unkempt dark blond hair and wide eyes. She appeared to be in a deep conversation with Big Boo on who could make a woman have an orgasm the quickest. ' _This table will definitely be entertaining_ '."Hello everyone. Thanks for letting me sit with you guys, you all seem really nice." Big Boo laughed. "Believe me, sweetie. No one is nice in prison. Better know that now or you'll learn the hard way later."

After that, I decided to keep my head down and try to keep myself from vomiting the revolting slop all over the table. Nicky noticed the look on my face. "I wish I could tell you that you'll get used to it, but honestly, it'll always taste like shit no matter what. Sorry, kid." She smiled sympathetically.

"Yea... I wonder what this is suppo-" I got cut off by Piscatella's booming voice from the center of the cafeteria. "Attention prisoners! Anyone caught throwing food will eat it from wherever it lands and receive a shot! And if any of you try to sneak food out of the cafeteria, that will be a day in solitary. Am I clear?" When no one responded I saw him reach into his pocket and hastened to cover my ears knowing exactly what was going to happen. The blaring air horn echoed in the cafeteria along with the startled screams of the inmates sitting at the tables closest to Piscatella. I would have found this to be hysterically funny if I weren't also in the cafeteria. "Am I clear?" This time he was met with the unenthusiastic grumbling of prisoners and was apparently satisfied with that because he left the center of the cafeteria and began talking with another CO.

As I watched Piscatella interact with the CO, Stratman, I think somebody called him, he seemed to calm down immediately. He talked in a hushed voice and looked like he was speaking amicably with him as if nothing happened at all in the last two minutes. I guess he was pretty popular with the guards because he took his job seriously and was a problem solver.

I turned back to my table and noted that three more people have sat down. I was happy to see Red, who was conversing with two people I hadn't seen before. Thankfully, DeMarco noticed my confusion and introduced them to me. "That's Gina and Norma. They work in the kitchen with Red. Norma is mute, so don't feel bad when she doesn't talk to you."

After finishing her conversation, Red pointed at me. "You. Staying out of trouble today?" She inquired.

"Not really. Two bald women with a ton of tattoos on their faces came up to me and were about to beat me up when I refused to join their movement in 'cleansing the prison' whatever that means."

"Ah, those are the nazis of the prison. How in the hell did you get out of that?"

"CO Piscatella came up and scared 'em off. It's a good thing he always seems to be on the prowl for troublemakers."

Red looked at me like I was insane. "Good? Nobody can breathe in here without getting threatened and berated. Just wait until you're at the other end of his wrath. Unless you're one of those 'goody-goody' kiss-ups." She looked at me accusingly.

"Don't worry. I'm not a snitch or a 'goody-goody'. I just want to do my time and get out of here without getting into trouble." I spoke earnestly.

Chapman spoke up now. "We all do, but sometimes trouble will find you and there will be no one there to get you out of it."

The COs began signaling the end of dinner. As if it were choreographed, everyone moved at once and began dispersing to the exit of the cafeteria.

The rest of the day was a blur. I followed Piper and Alex around while they gave me a tour of the prison. Piper explained everything like a tour guide would, while Alex made sarcastic comments. By the end of the day, I had laughed so hard my sides hurt. I didn't expect federal prisoners to be so normal, or have good senses of humor. By now it was almost lights out so we had to go back to A-Block for night count. COs McCullough and Coates were doing the count so it went smoothly and without a hitch.

Once I was in my bunk, I finally met my fourth bunkmate, Hapakuka. This was my first time seeing her. She looked tired and only muttered a quiet "goodnight." before laying down. Piper Chapman climbed onto the bunk above her and just lied there staring at the ceiling. Lastly, Red came in, obviously exhausted, and fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow.

End of Chapter

Note: Let me know what you guys think of this chapter! I hope meeting the other characters didn't seem too rushed or forced. Also, please let me know if there are grammatical errors so I can fix them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Lexy POV**

I woke up at 5:30 the next morning. Then it hit me. I really was going to be in the place for the next few years. Yesterday seemed too surreal, I hadn't thought about the fact that this was my new home.

I was stuck for a moment on what I should be doing right now. I think I'm supposed to take a shower in the mornings with the rest of A-Block. I looked around to see what everyone else was doing. Half the women were asleep, some were gone, presumably taking a shower or eating breakfast, and others were gathering the things they needed for their daily morning routine.

' _Just go take a shower, get in line for breakfast, and sit with your new friends.'_ All I needed was a pattern and it would get easier.

When I got to the bathroom, I sighed at the sight of the long line for the showers and the number of women doing their hair and makeup at the sinks. I stood in line and observed the people around me. Some were talking to each other, but most just stood silently looking bored out of their minds. I debated whether or not to try to talk with the lady in front of me. She had long dark brown hair and was very small, but she looked friendly enough.

I tapped her on the shoulder. "Hello." I smiled politely at her. "Hi, I don't think I've seen you here before." She furrowed her brows at me. "I just got here yesterday, I guess it was last minute placement because I'm not with the new inmates." She nodded. "Nice to meet you, I'm Tiffany Doggett, but my friends call me Pennsatucky." "I'm Lexy Grant." I thought for a moment before asking the question I had forgotten about yesterday. "Do you know when I'll get a job?" Pennsatucky looked to be thinking deeply. "I think you might be assigned a job. The people in the inmate transfer aren't getting jobs right now because there are too many of them. But you might get a job because you're a normal inmate here. I'd ask Mr. Healy or that new big guy, Piscatella, I think his name is." ' _Well, now I just have to work up the courage to talk to Piscatella. Or, meet my counselor, Mr. Healy.'_ "What's Mr. Healy like?" She beamed at me. "Oh, Mr. Healy's a nice guy. He's just a little rough around the edges," Her voice dropped to a whisper now. "He thinks lesbians are making plans to kill all men and take over the world." My eyes widened. "Ummm… Well, how long do you think it'll take him to get me a job?" She looked around thoughtfully. "It kind of depends. He's a bit slow to take action, but it goes a lot quicker if he likes you. If he doesn't like you, then it's never going to happen. I like him though, he just wants to the inmates to like him back. You see, he made this club, and on the first day, a lot of people showed up. The second time…. Well, let's just say it wasn't exactly a hit with the inmates. Nobody showed up and he was really upset. I think inmates don't like him because he's a little bit of a misogynist, and homophobic."

By this point, my eyes were probably saucers. This prison sounds absolutely wild. I don't know who I'll go to now. "So… Do you think I should go to Mr. Healy or Piscatella?" I questioned. She shrugged at me.

I now realized we were at the front of the line. Pennsatucky left the line and went into a shower. I waited patiently for an open shower. Now that I was at the front of the line I could look around the bathroom and I saw that some of the toilets didn't have stall doors. ' _What the hell. What kind of hell-hole doesn't have stall doors?'_ My internal inquiries were interrupted when somebody pushed me from behind. "Go!" Someone shouted at me. "Sorry!" I apologized. I hadn't noticed that one of the showers were open.

Once I was in the shower the first thing I did was make sure the water wasn't running any weird colors. Satisfied that the water was clear, I quickly put shampoo in my hair and rinsed it out as quickly as possible.

After leaving the bathroom, I wondered if I should go to breakfast or ask someone about the jobs. Perhaps, I'll wait until after breakfast to ask about my job assignment. I didn't want to ask Mr. Healy because I really don't want to offend him in some way. After all, Pennsatucky told me he was a bit of a misogynist, and if he doesn't like me there's a good chance I won't get a job at all. Piscatella, on the other hand, is very strict, but sensible, if I ask him nice enough. Hopefully.

I decided to go to breakfast and ask Piscatella afterward. Maybe later I can catch him in his office when he's not in a bad mood. He's always in a bad mood around a lot of inmates. Now, I just want to catch up with my new friends and maybe make some more.

When I got to the lunchroom, the mood was chaotic. The only guards in there were Bayley and Coates. It wasn't like people were fighting, they were just loud and rambunctious. I really hoped Piscatella wouldn't show up when the cafeteria was like this. No doubt, that air horn would be making a reappearance and shots would be handed out like candy on Halloween.

I wasted no time getting my food and sitting down at the table with Alex, Piper, DeMarco, Nicky, Big Boo, Lorna, and two other people that weren't sitting here yesterday. One of them had short white hair, black-framed glasses, and was constantly looking around as if she was expecting someone to shank her at any moment. The other person was an old woman with her brown hair in a ponytail, and a tattoo visible on her neck. I poked Piper and asked her who they were. "Oh, that's Lolly Whitehill with the glasses. She's a bit… Unique. Just don't talk about the government and she's harmless. The other one is Frieda. She's pretty interesting, and definitely do not get on her bad side. She's one of Red's friends, and pretty loyal too." With that being said, Frieda looked up and nodded at me. I nodded back to her and introduced myself."Hello, Frieda, I'm Lexy Grant. Good to meet you." "Likewise." She looked back down to her meal.

The cafeteria suddenly quieted down. Without having to turn around, I knew exactly who just walked in. Conversations were now hushed and the atmosphere was subdued. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see CO Piscatella patrolling the cafeteria. He was walking around tables snapping at people for god knows what. Every table he was near had ceased all talking and activities that weren't eating. The only people that didn't seem to care were Nicky and Boo, who were now doing impersonations of Piscatella. Alex noticed this and tried to silence them before he got to our table.

Thankfully, just as Piscatella was within hearing range of our table, they stopped speaking. I really didn't want my chances of getting a job to be ruined by him thinking that I was talking trash about him.

"Five minutes, inmates!" Everyone flinched at his sudden announcement.

The rest of breakfast was spent cleaning up and making sure everything was spotless. We all filed through the cafeteria door and about half the inmates went to their jobs. I was once again reminded of what I needed to do and went off in search of Piscatella.

After looking around the most populated hallways for fifteen minutes, I deduced that Piscatella was most likely at his office, which was great for me. I worked my way around the prison until I arrived to his office. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I ran through what I was going to say in my head. I knocked on the closed door softly.

"Come in." Piscatella's deep voice rang out from behind the door.

I slowly opened the door and entered the room. Piscatella looked up from his computer. "What is it, Grant?"

I could feel my nerves creeping back up. "Sir, I was just wondering if I'd be getting a job assignment since I wasn't with the inmate transfer and scheduled to come here before all that," I spoke with trepidation.

"Take a seat, inmate. I'll check with the system and see if you've been assigned anything."

I walked farther into the room and sat down in the chair in front of his desk, just like yesterday. I wonder what I will do with all my spare time if I don't have a job. I don't know how I'll get commissary money without one.

Piscatella broke the silence. "Looks like you haven't been assigned for anything, inmate." I looked up at him, disappointed. "However, I've read your file, and I know you have a good education, so I will offer you a job of my own," He paused for effect. "I need someone to handle business when I'm not in my office. For example, if an inmate or officer comes to report something, you just have to write it down, and let me know when I return. Also, I need someone to organize and file papers. There are also rules. If you lie, hide a file, or conveniently 'forget' to report something, there will be severe consequences. You will lose this job and will be unable to get another one for the duration of your time here at Litchfield, your sentence will be extended, and you will get sent to Max. If you accept this offer, you will make $0.50 an hour, much more than most of the inmates make. Do not think this job will grant you any sort of special privileges. You will still be treated as any other inmate, and are expected to behave properly at all times. Do you accept these conditions and the job?"

I heavily consider his offer. If I accept and adhere to his conditions, I might just have an almost pleasant stay at this prison, and I'll be making the money I need for commissary. _'And if I decline, it'll be pretty damn hard to get necessities and Piscatella will likely forever distrust me.'_ It was a no-brainer. I just hope that Piscatella's mood will get better at some point.

"I accept."

 **Note: I finally made some development between Lexy and Piscatella. I think I'll do next chapter from his point of view. Please let me know what you guys think of this chapter and tell me if I made any factual and/or grammatical errors. Thanks to coraismyhomie for letting me know about the formatting error.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author Note: If any of you are confused later in the chapter, there was a deleted scene in Piscatella's flashback where he rubbed his and Wes's tattoos together and Wes's came off. This left Piscatella with distrust for all inmates because Wes had just been using him to get things. Brad William Henke (Piscatella) stated that he played the role keeping that in mind, which explains Piscatella's hatred of Red.**

 **Piscatella 3rd Person POV**

"I accept." She answered.

"Excellent. You will come to my office at 6 A.M. sharp every morning starting tomorrow and will leave when I dismiss you. If there is an emergency, you will have to come find me. Most of the time, I'll be patrolling the most populated areas of the prison but I'll pop in from time to time to make sure you're not slacking off. Any questions?" Piscatella looked at her expectantly.

"Where will I work when I'm in here?" Lexy inquired.

"By tomorrow there'll be a small desk set up for you. Anything else?"

"That's it. Thank you, Mr. Piscatella."

He motioned for her to get out. Now that he was alone, he thought about how he was entrusting an inmate to be alone in his office without supervision. He hoped it wouldn't backfire because he just doesn't have enough time for menial paperwork. He needs to be out there at all times to make sure things are running smoothly. Piscatella had already sorted through a lot of files to find an inmate that fit the criteria he wanted. When he came across Grant's file he knew she would be good for the job. She had a good education, no prior trouble apart from what had landed her in federal prison, and he knew she wouldn't want to mess anything up for him since he had saved her from those inmates yesterday. There was no other inmate that came close to that.

Now, he decided to keep an eye on her today to verify that he made the right choice. Piscatella got up from his desk and left his office to check up on what's happening throughout the prison. The first place he went to was the television room. Caputo had said that this was a place of common disputes because the inmates always argued over whose turn it was to get the remote.

Hallways became much quieter when Piscatella was patrolling them. Nonetheless, he still managed to find inmates that needed to be corrected. Pretty soon everyone got the message and started avoiding wherever Piscatella happened to be.

When Piscatella reached the television room, he slipped in undetected because a group of inmates were too busy fighting over the remote to notice him. "Inmates! Knock it off!" Everyone flinched and one woman yanked the remote from the other person and sat down. Piscatella grabbed the remote from her. "Now, you all only have yourselves to blame because everyone has lost TV privileges for today." Piscatella shouted again when the inmates began muttering mutinously amongst themselves. "Consider yourselves lucky because next time the whole TV will be removed!" The room went silent.

"Good." Piscatella left the room, leaving the inmates fuming.

Next, he went to find inmate Reznikov. He knew she was going to be a thorn in his side for a long time. He had read her file too and despised her. He knows how she seduced and used her counselor so she could work in the kitchen again. This struck a particular chord in Piscatella, as it reminded him of Wes Driscoll, who had done the same to him. He had been devastated to find out Wes had faked his tattoo. Healy probably felt the same when he realized Reznikov had only pretended to care about him so she could get her kitchen back.

Piscatella looked at the time. _7:23_. He figured Reznikov wouldn't be in the kitchen so he went to her bunk. When he got there he was surprised to see inmate Grant conversing with her. _'That's right. They share the same bunk. Of course she'd be friends with Reznikov.'_ This complicated things. Piscatella was a bit more distrustful of Grant now that he knew she was in Red's circle. On the other hand, this made it easier for him to keep an eye on them both at the same time. They were the only ones in A-Block at this time, so no one had seen him come in. Piscatella stood outside the bunk and listened.

"You accepted a job with that big oaf? What the hell is wrong with you!" Reznikov's Russian accent rang out.

"Are you suggesting that I should just spend my entire sentence moping around with nothing to do? I need something to do and this is a pretty good opportunity."

Red's voice became deadly serious. "A pretty good opportunity to really get beat up. However, this time, the whole prison will be vying to get a piece of you. What will you do then, huh?"

"My job isn't to snitch on people. I'm only supposed to report what inmates and guards tell me, nothing that Piscatella wasn't going to hear anyways."

"Do you honestly think the other inmates will see that way? Do you think they'll care that…" Red stopped talking, feeling that something was off.

 **Lexy POV**

I looked at Red in confusion when she broke off in the middle of her rant and held out a finger motioning for me not to speak.

She mouthed _"Piscatella"_ and I froze, praying that he hadn't heard too much. I decided to change the direction of the conversation into to something more casual.

"Where's the library at? I heard some inmates talking about it and I'd love to read in my downtime."

"It's a few hallways down from the cafeteria. You'll see it when you're there."

I became aware to Piscatella's commanding presence when he materialized in the doorway of my bunk. I still flinched, even with the warning from Red, it was a shock when he just appears out of nowhere.

"Shouldn't you be in the kitchen cleaning up, Reznikov?" Piscatella moved to the side to let Red through.

Once Red was out, he moved back to the center of the doorway and stared a hole straight through me.

"Getting cold feet already? You knowingly accepted the conditions, so don't chicken out or think that you can get away with anything. Don't worry about inmates beating you up. If you work with me, I'll make sure you don't get any problems from other inmates."

I looked up at him and nodded. "I know what I accepted. I won't break any of the rules, I promise. I'm just worried that I'll be an outcast from the other inmates because they'll view me as a snitch."

Piscatella took a deep breath and looked even more annoyed. "I don't care. Just do your job the way it's supposed to be done and that's the only thing to it."

"But…" Piscatella walked out of A-Block, leaving me alone with my unposed question.

' _Maybe I should've thought a bit more before making my decision…'_

 **End of Chapter**

 **Note: As always, let me know if I made any mistakes. I promise the pairing is Piscatella X Lexy, it's going to take a while though because he's extremely wary of inmate motivations, and at the moment Lexy doesn't really know much about him. Eventually, they'll warm up to each other.**


End file.
